The Sacramento Kings are signing guard Markelle Fultz, according to a report from ESPN’s Shams Charania. Fultz, a former first overall pick, has been a free agent this season following a few good years with the Orlando Magic.
The Kings have had an obvious need for point guard depth following the trade of De’Aaron Fox, and Fultz was one of the top available names on the market. While Fultz never lived up to his selection as a number one pick, he did put together a decent NBA career and should provide the Kings with a playable depth option at the point guard position.
Welcome to Sacramento, Markelle!
He’s an average NBA player. That’s a good signing. Don’t expect it to help the three point shooting though.
An average backup PG is probably better than no backup PG? And coming to Sacramento never helps your 3pt shooting.
yes, players leave their 3’s at the airport.
Unless you’re on the opposing team coming to play against the Kings
yes, a swap. Like Wells from Memphis – went 8 for 9 or something and next night against the duds- 0 for 6.
Well said and all true
and an above average talent
“Average” is really putting it nicely. He’s really not played well for quite some time. It’d be hilarious if came here at started hitting mad threes.
I disagree with this. He’s a poor shooter, but has still been a good player. He plays solid defense, and is a solid backup point guard. Orlando fans were happy with him over the last several years, he just got squeezed out of his role and didn’t make sense for Orlando to bring back. He’s not a star, he’s not some massive free agent signing, but he’s a solid, competent backup point guard and that’s a boost for the Kings roster right now.
Not help? Fultz will shoot better from 3 than Lavine and Huerter! 😉
Provides an ounce or two of defense and can give 10-ish minutes a night at PG. Not a bad inexpensive depth piece.
He was playing 29 min per night in 2022-23 and was injured half of the year last season. I expect he can play more than 10 min in Sacto
He was a back up in Orlando last year- I think their guards were him, Suggs and Anthony along with Anthony Black.
Has he even played this year?
There were a few other PG’s on the list- Reggie Jackson, Bones Hyland and ? Monte Morris. Is he a better addition than any of those? or were they just not possibilities?
I think him not being signed until now might be due to injury.
Fultz is bigger than the two you mentioned, and has been known to be a decent defender.
Love it! We need a guy that can just handle, drive, facilitate and defend. Takes some pressure of Monk and DDR. Hopefully I don’t have to watch Lavine initiate the offense for the rest of the season!
Hey. We’re Fultz’d!
And Nix likely nixed!
I’d like to see the terms of the deal. I’m guessing it’s just for the remainder of the season, but a TO or even a partial guarantee for next year would be an absolute win if Fultz shows signs of life.
Markelle Fultz- The #1 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft – one heckuva draft
6 All-Stars including Tatum, Fox, Adebayo, Donovan Mitchell, Lauri Markannen, Jarett Allen
lots of other notables: Malik Monk, Lonzo, OG Annunoby, Kyle Kuzma, Zach Collins, John Collins, Luke Kennard, Derrick White, Josh Hart, Jonathan Isaac, Dennis Smith, Jr.- and Sasha Vezenkov.
Kings had 3 additional picks: Justin Jackson, Harry Giles III and Frank Mason III.
We trade the #5 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft to the #1 pick. 😉
Welcome MF! Oh wait
Mother
I like this signing! Playing Keon/Fuktz/Keon together actually gives us some serious defensive versatility. We’ve also got the shooters to cover for Fultz. Good bench option.
If you surround any player with two Keons you’re going to get some good defense.
I’m tripping balls on Ellis D!
I know it’s early but this is the comment of the year. Period. How is this not Purple?
Can this be a T shirt? PLEASE!!!
LOL!
Ha! That was supposed to say Keegan but I couldn’t get to the edit button in time. I’m completely Keon pilled at this point.
And I misspelled Fultz! What a mess. It’s late and I’m tired.
Two Keons mean twice the defense and twice the 3’s! The Kings get Fuktz’d up with 3 and D players now
Nove it!
He was out of the league this year so he’ll probably get 20 minutes a game here.
To be fair, it sounds like he was out of the league as he was rehabbing from injury. In Shams article on ESPN, it sounded like teams have been trying to sign him for months but he was waiting for the right opportunity. He had an injury plagued year last year but was actually really good two years ago.
So if you’d have told me two weeks ago that we’d trade Fox and end up with JV, Zach L, LaRavia, Fultz, 3 firsts and two seconds while getting of deadweight in Huerter, McLaughlin, Len , and Colby I’d be rather happy.
Despite my pre-trade general opposition I would have driven Fox to the airport for these moves.
I really like Fultz as a bench PG. He worked his way from draft bust into mid-ish starter, I feel relatively confident he can go from knee injury to providing a solid 15 minutes
Man, K-Von has really fallen off a cliff. 1 of 8 tonight, 0 of 5 from three. Did he lose his shot like Markelle did?
He’s only 1/12 from three as a Bull 🙁
Ouch! His offense has become Bullshit now. Nice guy, but a net negative now. Hopes he rediscovers it
Not sure what happened to him after his first season here in Sac, but just seemed like he lost confidence in his shot. I actually do hope he regains it back.
The Nick Anderson of the 3 point line?
we want the Bulls to lose – we own their second rounder
He was always way better when he was set before shooting. towards the end it seemed that all his shots were off balance or rushed. Many not even close to going in.
I think Will, Tony and Jerry discussed this on the podcast, but all of the non-Fox moves could’ve probably been made while Fox was here. Would that have been enough to sway him to stay? We won’t know, but this team would’ve been better.
Well the team is getting better now and it might be a bit silly to build around Fox if he’s told you that he’s leaving in Summer 2026. Take a shot this year and next before letting him walk for nothing? Or just this year, then move him by TDL in Feb ‘26?
The Kings had 2 tradeable second round picks prior to the Fox trade. Sent two picks for JV and one for LaRavia, so I’m not sure they could have done both without the Fox trade.
Nove move by the FO. But I was wondering, between Fultz and Ben Simmons, would they still have taken Markelle? Simmons could guard 1-4 in contrast to Fultz, but just hates to shoot. MF is a decent PG off the bench and can drive to the basket to score with no hesitation. Former no. 1 picks too.
Ben Simmons is an injury cancel every night. He makes Greg Oden look like AJ Green (that’s for you old-timers).
If he were healthier/healthy – he could be a unique Power Forward, an old skool Buck Williams.
Ok – I’ve overstepped my old player quota for the day.
I’ll one up you…for old timer’s sake. You probably meant to say AC Green ????
At least Monte has been busy. I don’t any other team had four moves like the Kings.
Picked four ahead of De’Aaron Fox.
I like Fultz, and he fills a need, but when has a post-deadline unsigned player actually made an impact in the NBA?
Hope that’s the case. I see all his minutes coming outta Keon’s
He had better not get any of Keon’s minutes! Kings currently have a nice 9 man rotation. Any minutes Fultz get should be garbage time and in break glass emergencies.
Hope that’s the case
Maybe they signed him to get a look for next season as well? Devin Carter insurance in case he continues sucking?
Jimmy Jackson?
This is a smart low-risk signing that does two helpful things, straight away: 1.) slightly improves our perimeter defense by adding another guy who is good at making deflections and tipping passes, and 2.) pushes Devin Carter further down the depth chart. Carter’s shot and speed are nowhere near NBA-level, and he needs steady minutes for a good month at game intensity (probably in Stockton) before he even gets consideration in the rotation again.
What I am most excited about is the idea that we could have a Domas/JV/Keegan/Fultz/Ellis lineup on the floor at some point, which would IMO be our strongest defensive lineup and maybe be the sort of configuration we need in games where we hold a slight lead but can’t stop the other team from clawing back in. Those games have been too many to count this season.
I like this signing too. Carter has been atrocious, far from NBA quality. Meanwhile, the “not NBA ready” Kel’el Ware is looking like the athletic 4/5 we seem allergic to.
Agree fully, Ware would have been a stupendous fit with what we needed. It also would have lessened the sting of losing Davion a bit. Yeah you lose some man to man coverage but gain a huge improvement in length. It also would have made the McLaughlin signing make more immediate sense.
My board for us last year was DaSilva, McCain and Ware. Taking Carter stumped me. And if you were fixed on taking a guard, McCain made more sense IMO. With McCain, I felt he had a skill set that would mesh off the bench in periods where Fox was off the floor, had a lot of attributes to like (including Sacramento ties), and seemed NBA ready. Could you imagine if we had McCain now? I doubt the sting from dealing Fox would feel the same, that’s for sure. I’m not Monte basher, I’m kind of neutral on him as I think dealing with Vivek is like being put through a medieval torture device, but that oversight is one that will forever infuriate me.
I have heard several times now that Monte was supposedly drafting Carter for another team on a deal that fell through. Greg, any word on that? That would at least explain the reason Monte drafted another guard.
Give Carter the rest of the season, off season and pre-season to show what kind of player he might become. He was Big East POY — doesn’t guarantee anything at next level, but I wouldn’t rush to declare him a bust after he missed 4-5 months recovering from injury. I wasn’t even sure we’d see him this season. It’s a redshirt year.
Have you seen him shoot?
Kev, that line up is going to play hot potato with the ball as there are no shot creators, but, hey maybe they can stop the other team fron scoring and we drain the shot clock during games where we have a 4th quarter lead LOL
IMO, Carter looks “clumsy” with the eye test. Each game, i always see him trip, stumble, or go for a lay-up and fall down. Could that have contributed to his shoulder injury? Dunno, bit he needs to be careful about hitting the deck multiple times.
Does anyone remember what the next standings tiebreaker is after head-to-head? Right now we’re 2-2 against Minnesota, 2-0 against Golden State and Phoenix, and 0-2 against the Clippers (playing two more). We’re already guaranteed the tiebreaker against Dallas since we only play them once more (though would be nice to go 3-0 and get the extra win).
here you go
https://www.theringer.com/2024/03/19/nba/markelle-fultz-orlando-magic-comeback-sixers
Found this to be an interesting read!
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